A magistrate apologised after imposing a "pitifully small" fine on a teenage driver involved in a fatal road crash.

Joshua Knight, 18, drifted across the road in his van and smashed into an oncoming car as he drove home with his girlfriend.

Ashfaq Choudhry, 30, was killed in the crash late on Valentine's Day.

Knight was fined just £85 after he admitted driving without due care and attention.

Magistrate Susan Morris told him: "The fine looks pitifully small for a life. We give our condolences to the bereaved family. This is the best we can do."

A new law of causing death by careless driving was only brought in last month so Knight avoided a possible five-year jail sentence. He also has no income and so a larger fine could not be considered.

Mrs Morris said the bench at Wisbech magistrates had actually increased the fine tariff due to the death of Mr Choudhry and because Knight had his 16-year-old girlfriend as a passenger. Cathy Keeler, spokeswoman for road safety charity Brake, described the fine as "horrendously low".

She said: "Drivers who kill through bad driving deserve tougher penalties. It is yet another example of why the Government needed to bring in the charge of causing death by careless driving to provide justice for bereaved families. Driving demands 100 per cent concentration for 100 per cent of the time. You have a potentially lethal weapon in your hands."

Peterborough councillor Zahid Hussain, who knows Mr Choudhry's family, said: "They are still very stressed by his tragic death. I am sure they will be very concerned about this low fine. He was a very hard-working young man who was looking forward to his future."

Mr Choudhry, of Peterborough, Cambs, died as he drove home with a friend on the A47 in Wisbech, Cambs, after finishing a shift at a fruit packaging factory. The tragedy happened a month before he was due to get married in Pakistan.

Knight, a student, of Terrington St John, Norfolk, suffered a head injury and was in a critical condition in hospital before recovering.

The court heard he could not remember the accident.

Knight was also banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay £50 costs.